Having worked in business for over fifteen years before becoming MP for Mid Norfolk, and served as a Business Minister on three separate occasions, I know just how important local businesses are. They really are the engine of our local and national economies.

That’s why I have long gone out of my way to visit, promote and communicate with as many local businesses as possible – something I am continuing to do even more so now in my current role as Minister of State at the new Department for Science, Innovation and Technology given the vibrant Norfolk Innovation Economy that Mid Norfolk is very much part of.

This past Friday, I had the pleasure of returning to Mirus Aircraft Seating in Hingham to officially open their new M-TEST facility – the largest commercially available and most technologically advanced crash test facility in the UK.

One of the country’s leading commercial aircraft seating manufacturers and part of a rapidly growing cluster of world class engineering and advanced manufacturing companies here on the Cambridge-Norwich Innovation Corridor (linked to the Lotus and Norwich Research Park Research and Development Hubs), Mirus is on the frontline of the Net Zero Green Industrial Revolution – reducing emissions and driving green growth through its R&D investment in innovation lightweight aircraft seats and equipment.

Having participated in the ground breaking ceremony for M-TEST back in 2021 (see here) and previously visited the company for the first time in 2018 (see here), it was wonderful to visit Ben McGuire (CEO of Mirus) and the team again to formally launch M-TEST – which boasts the latest testing technology, will allow Mirus to develop new technologies at a much faster pace and enable greater innovation and speed to market for the company’s products. M-TEST will also be available to other companies in the both the domestic and international aerospace, automotive, motorsport and rail industries who wish to test their own products – speeding up their own innovation and success too.

Mirus is a brilliant, pioneering Mid Norfolk success story – with M-TEST a huge milestone for the company AND for the wider Norfolk and New Anglia Innovation Economy.

As a constituency MP and Government Minister who has often spoken about the world class science, innovation and research going on in our part of the world and the very real potential for that to “spin out” companies (small, medium and large) into our towns and villages, I am delighted to see Mirus as an example of exactly that. In the years to come, we will see so many more businesses like this emerging in our area, spreading the prosperity, creating exciting new jobs for our communities and pioneering the science and innovation that will help shape the world.

I look forward to continuing to support Mirus in the years to come – and remain committed to doing all I can to support our Norfolk and New Anglia Innovation Economy.

To find out more about Mirus, please visit their website here

To see the official M-TEST launch trailer, please click here

To see the EDP article on the launch, please click here

To find out more about all my work supporting the Norfolk Innovation Economy (including my recent Norfolk and New Anglia Cluster visit as Science Minister), please click here